Floor construction.



B. A. HART & R. H. WALLACE.

FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

APPLIGATION IILBD MAR.21, 1914.

Wm J

E. A. HART & R. H. WALLACE.

FLOOR CONSTRUCTION- APPLICATION FILED MAR. 21, 1914.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Z a gy 16 A; "i I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWIN A. HART, OF WIRETON, AND ROBERT H. WALLACE, OF NEW BRIGHTON, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE-THIRD T0 CLARENCE D. BEEMER, OF

BEAVER, PENNSYLVANIA.

FLOOR CONSTRUCTION.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 10, 1914.

To all it may concern Be'it'kn'own that we, Enw N A. HART and ments in floor construction, the object being a to provide a railroad crossing, bridge decking store rooms, frei ht houses and the like with a floor formed from slabs made up of reinforced plastic material sufliciently strong to wi hstand the pressure of heavy weights deposited thereon, the said slabs having interlocking edges 7 to insure the proper arrangement of the same, as Well as having their corners beveled. and their bodies upo n their upper faces formed with a longitudinal registering channel or depression where by a firm foot hold may be obtained and danger of slipping of draft animals passing over the floor or the vehicles to which the draft animals are'attached, will be entirely obviated.

With the above and other objects in view which will appear as the nature of the in vention is more fully understood the improvement resides in the construction, combination and arrangement of parts set forth in the following specification and falling within the scope of the appended claims.

In the drawings accompanying this spec ification there has been illustrated a satisfactory reduction of our improvement to practice, and in which:

Figure 1 is a plan view of our flooring or decking arranged between the rails at a railway crossing, Fig. 2. is a sectional view on the line 2-2 of Fig. 1, Fig. 3 is a similar sectional view on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1, Fig. 4 is a section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1, Fig. 5 is a detail perspective view of one 01. the end slabs, Fig. 6 is a similar view of one of the slabs provided with a nose or flange which is adapted to be received within the fishing space to one side of a rail, and Fig. 7 is a horizontal sectional view through the slab illustrated in Fig. 6.

In the drawings, the improvement is illustrated in applied position upon a railway crossing, but, as previously stated, the device is not to be thus restricted in its useful employment, and in the said drawings the numerals 1 designate the rails at the cross in and 2 the crossing proper which is provic ed with ties or sleepers 3 that are of course, arranged transversely beneath and support the rails 1. The decking or floor for the crossing is broadly indicated by the numeral 4, and comprises a plurality of substantially rectangular slabs 5 and 6, the slabs 6 being of a less length than the slabs 5, and in the showing in the drawing one of the slabs '5 arranged against one of the slabs 6.

have their combined length equal to the width of .the crossing. This arrangement, however, is not essential, as the crossing may be of any desired width, but certain of the shorter slabs 6 are necessarily arranged atthe endsof the crossing. The end slabs, in the showing of the drawings, have one of their. ends rounded to provide an integrally formed coping which is indicated by the numeral T, and each of the said slabs has its upper longitudinal edge beveled or inclined downwardly from its upper face to its sides, as indicated by the'numeral' 8, so that when the sides of the slabs are brought into abutting position, the beveled corners will provide a continuous V-shaped groove, the said groove serving as an anti-slipping means for pedestrians as well as for animals and ve hicles traversing the crossing. The slabs 5 and 6 are further provided with centrally arranged longitudinally extending V-shaped grooves 9 which serve a similar purpose to that of the beveled corners 8, and the slabs are further provided with openings 10 which are arranged within the grooves 9 and which are spaced from each other a distance equaling the distance between the center of the adjacent sleepers 3, the said openings beingadapted to receive lag screws 11 which are forced therethrough to within the sleepers 3, and which retain the sleepers in proper position upon the crossing. The slabs are so arranged as to have their contacting ends meet centrally of the sleepers, but the joints thus provided are broken or in other words. the meeting end of one slab is not arranged upon the said slab with the meeting end of the adjacent or coengaging slab and the meeting ends of the said slabs are provided with vertically disposed substantially semi cvlindrical depressions of one of the slabs being formed with a which, when the slabs are brought together trated in the drawings, it is necessary that.

one series of the slabs which are arranged adjacent the inner faces of the rails 1 contact with'the said rails in order to provide a complete flooring for the crossing and therefore these slabs which may be indicated by the numerals 14, have their upper corners.

adjacent the rails grooved longitudinally to provide the lower corners of the said slabs with longitudinal extensions or flanges 15,

and the said flanges are provided with metallic reinforcements 16 which are ofa serpentine formation, being bent in zigzag directions throughout their length. All of the sleepers are provided'with spaced metallic reinforcing bars 17 which are so positioned to impart the desired amount of rigidity andstrength to the slabs' In order to lessen the weight of the sleepers, as well as to provide for a certain amount of flexibility, which is permitted by the particular arrangement of the metallic reinforcing members, the underface of the slabs is channeled transversely, as at 18, the upper walls provided by the channels terminating just below the lower reinforcing bars 17, and the channels are of a width equaling the distance between the sleepers of each pair of sleepers 3.

The slabs providing the flooring may be, it will be noted, easily and quickly applied and easily removed should any of the slabs become worn or broken, it being understood that the heads of the lag screws being ar ranged within the V-shaped grooves permit of the application of a suitable instrument for the withdrawal of the said screws.

Having thus described the invention, what We claim is:

1. A. flooring made up of slabs each embodying a reinforced plastic member having its corners beveled toward its side, the end transverse tongue, the end of the co-acting slab being formed with a transverse groove adapted to receive the tongue, and the upper face of each of the slabs being provided with a centrally disposed longitudinally extending ll-shaped groove.

2. A flooring made up reinforced plastic slabs, sleepers for supporting the slabs, each of the sleepers having its upper corners beveled toward its sides, thecoacting slabs being of different lengths and having interlocking ends, each of the'slabs being each provided with a central longitudinally extending V-shaped depression upon its upper face, the slabs being formed longitudinally extending V-shaped groove,

the end sleepers ofthe crossinghavingtheir ends curved downwardly to provide a cop ing, the sleepers having, their meeting ends formed with a tongue andgroove connection, the slabs adjacent the inner faces of the rails of the crossing having their corners op posite the said rails channeled longitudi.-' nally to provide a lower flange, a serpentine metallic reinforcement "for each of said flanges, the meeting ends or all of the slabs being arranged over the said sleepers upon which the rails and slabs are supported, the

joints of each of the series of slabs being broken,-the underfaces of each of the'slabs being channeled transversely a distance equaling the distance between the opposite sides of the sleepers, the said sleepers being formed with openings at their meeting endsv andat their remaining portions which .rest

directly upon the sleepers, the said openings passin from the central V-shaped grooves throng the slabs, and lag screws passing through the opening into the sleepers.

In testimony whereof we aliix our signatures in presence of two wltnesses.

EDWIN A. HART. ROBERT H. waiaaon Witnesses: i

l/VM. W. Wrnson, CLARENCE D. BnnMnR. 

